New Year's Eve Call
by millstone1005
Summary: It is New Years Eve 2007, and Sandy gets a phone call from Seth – from the police station. For the Chrismukkah Dialogue Fic Challenge.


**Title:** New Year's Eve Call  
**Fandom:** _The O.C._  
**Spoilers:** entire series  
**Characters:** Sandy, Ryan, Seth, Kirsten  
**Genre:** Gen  
**Rating:** K (General audience)  
**Word Count:** 1900  
**Disclaimer:** _The O.C._ and its characters are property of its copyright owners. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is taken from this story.  
**Author's Note:** This was written for the Chrismukkah Dialogue Fic Challenge. The line of dialogue to be included: "_He's gonna be okay, right?"_ (which was changed slightly) as submitted by pm153.

**Summary:** It is New Years Eve 2007, and Sandy gets a phone call from Seth – from the police station.

* * *

_New Year's Eve, 2007_

_Berkeley, California_

Sandy settled into the sofa, pulling his wife of almost twenty-three years close, and sighing with contentment. This was the best New Year's Eve he could wish for. The best in a long time, he thought as he stroked Kirsten's head which was lying gently on his shoulder. They were both happy just to be here, in their beloved old (new) Berkeley house, with the fire crackling in the fireplace, watching Dick Clark on the TV, waiting for the Times Square ball to drop.

And the family was all together again, just the way they liked it. Little four-month-old Sophie was all snug in her crib upstairs in the nursery. Speaking of which, Sandy reached over and picked up the baby monitor and listened for a moment. All he could hear was soft breathing. _Beautiful_. And Seth and Ryan were both back in the house for winter break. Seth had come home from Rhode Island, and Ryan was staying at the house instead of the dorms at UC Berkeley, since they had been closed for break.

Of course, neither Seth nor Ryan were home right at the moment. Seth had convinced Ryan to take him to a fraternity party. Ryan had been invited by a frat brother he knew from his classes, but hadn't been planning to go (no surprise there). But Seth had pleaded and begged and basically bugged Ryan to death – claiming that without Summer in town he needed a distraction on New Year's Eve – until Ryan finally caved and agreed to go with him (Sandy smiled to himself, no surprise there, either).

Since they were both over eighteen and legally adults, Sandy knew not to expect them until the wee hours of the morning. He just hoped that they wouldn't drink too much. Or if they did, that they would know enough either to call for a ride home, or to crash at the frat house until morning. He pulled Kirsten closer and tried to push the bad thoughts away and regain his previous peace of mind. Both of the boys had good heads on their shoulders, didn't they, after all?

* * *

It was almost midnight when the phone rang. Sandy disentangled himself from Kirsten and got up to see who was calling. The caller id showed a local number with no name, so he let the machine get it.

The caller started to leave a message, "Ahem... Oh... Hey... Dad... It's Seth –"

Sandy reached over and picked up the receiver. "Seth? Is anything wrong? Or did you just call to wish your old man a Happy New Year?"

"Um, well, actually... you see..."

Sandy could hear the unmistakable sounds of "police station" in the background as his about-to-be-totally-dead son stammered and hemmed and hawed and basically told him nothing. He finally interrupted.

"_Seth!_ Are you at the police station? I can _hear_ the police in the background. Please tell me you're not under arrest. And where's Ryan? Is he with you?"

"Um, well, yeah, we're both here. Not under arrest! Well, not exactly, no."

Sandy huffed in exasperation. It was like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of Seth. He rubbed his forehead. He could feel a headache beginning. "What are you guys doing at the police station, _exactly_?"

"Well, you see we were at this party at this frat house..."

"Yes, Seth, I know. Go on." Please. Now.

"There was, you know... It was like, loud and stuff, so the cops came and basically, well, rounded everybody up and brought us all down to the station, I guess to like question everybody and sort it all out. And, well, they've started letting people go home, but Ryan and I, well, they haven't let us go and I don't know why and I thought I should call you." Seth finally took a breath. "So, you'll come down, right?"

By this time, Kirsten had joined Sandy at the phone, obviously worried as well. Sandy took a quick look at her, then told Seth, "Yes, of course, I'll be right there. Where are you, exactly?"

After Seth finished telling him which precinct station they were at, Sandy hung up the phone and quickly filled Kirsten in, at least as much as he could understand from Seth's ramblings. Then with a nod to Kirsten, Sandy grabbed his coat and his keys and headed towards the door.

But Kirsten stopped him. "They're going to be okay, right? Sandy?"

Sandy leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek, rubbing her arm to comfort her. "I won't know until I get down there and find out what's really going on. But, try not to worry, baby. I'll take care of whatever it is. I'm sure everything will be fine." He tried to give her a more reassuring smile than he felt. Getting a call from your kids from the police station was just about the worst call a parent could get (aside from, god forbid, a call from the hospital).

Sandy headed out the door, really hoping that the boys weren't in any real trouble. And vowing to kill both of them after he got them home.

* * *

At the police station, Sandy identified himself as a lawyer and asked for Seth and Ryan. He was quickly shown to an interrogation room. Seth and Ryan were already in there, looking a little sheepish at his entry. Sandy rushed over to them.

"Seth? Ryan? Are you guys okay? What's going on? Have they talked to you yet? Told you anything?"

But before they could answer, a plainclothes policeman entered the room and shut the door behind him. He stuck out his hand to Sandy, introducing himself, "Detective Jack Vasser."

Sandy shook his hand. "Sandy Cohen."

The detective frowned and started flipping through the files in his hand. "Cohen..."

"Yes, these are my sons." Sandy gestured towards the boys. "Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood. I'm also their attorney."

Sandy fished one of his new business cards out of his pocket and handed it to the cop, who took it, glanced at it, then put it away in his own pocket. "Okay, counselor." He started to sit down and gestured to Sandy to also take a seat. "Why don't we get started, then?"

"What's going on, Detective? Why are my sons here?"

Det. Vasser opened up the two files he had with him and laid them on the table. Sandy figured one was for Ryan and one was for Seth.

"Well, Mr. Cohen, your sons were picked up in a raid on a UC Berkeley fraternity house, Pi-Iota-Gamma. We got multiple calls from people in the neighborhood about loud music, underage drinking, drugs, property damage –"

Sandy interrupted him. "Are Ryan and Seth accused of any of this wrongdoing? Is that why they haven't been released with the others?"

The detective looked at Seth and Ryan, then back at Sandy. "Nobody is accused of anything yet, counselor. We're still interviewing people and sorting out exactly what happened. Those who have already been released have clean records and are local citizens. We have their names and addresses and will be interviewing them tomorrow."

At that reference to "clean records", Sandy could feel that familiar dread coming over him. He and Ryan exchanged looks, and he knew Ryan caught the reference as well.

Detective Vasser looked back down at the files in front of him and picked one up, flipping through a few pages before putting it back down. "Your sons on the other hand, Ryan Atwood," He indicated one of the files. "And Seth Cohen." He indicated the other file. "Both have rap sheets."

Sandy raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. He was so used to Ryan having a record, and worrying about that, that he forgot that Seth now had a record as well, what with the fire at the Newport Group and later the attempt to rescue Newport Chuck the groundhog.

The detective continued, "In fact, there was a small fire that was started at the frat party, and I see here that both of your sons have arrests for arson –"

The detective was interrupted at that point by Seth and Ryan saying at the same time, "It was an accident."

After the impromptu chorus, the boys looked at each other and nearly laughed. Sandy guessed it was a little funny.

Sandy looked back at the cop, pointing to the files, "In both cases, the charges were dropped."

Det. Vasser looked back down at the files. "Yes, I see that."

He started fiddling with them, again. Sandy waited to see if he was going to ask Ryan and Seth if they had anything to do with the fire tonight. After a few moments, the detective took out a pad and pen and looked at the boys.

"All right. I'm going to need a statement from both of you about what you did and what you saw tonight at the fraternity house." He gestured at Ryan. "Why don't you go first? Ryan, isn't it?"

Ryan glanced at Sandy, asking him what he should do. Sandy addressed the detective. "May I have a few minutes alone with my clients before they make their statements?"

The detective put his pen down and checked his watch. "Certainly, counselor, but I'm on a tight schedule here. I'll go interview someone else while you talk, but I can't tell you exactly when I'll be able to get back to you. You may have to wait a little while until I'm free again."

Sandy nodded. "I understand, Detective. Thank you."

After Detective Vasser left, Sandy turned to the boys. "Okay, now tell me exactly what happened tonight, and what you saw, and what you did. Seth?"

Seth leaned forward on the table, towards Sandy. "Dad, I swear, we don't know anything about any fire or anything like that. We were there just to have fun."

Ryan picked up the story. "Yeah, Sandy, exactly. We were inside. We didn't know about any of that stuff the cop was talking about. The fire and stuff." He exchanged a look with Seth. "But yeah, okay, we were drinking a little. Everybody was, and I suppose most of them were underage. And yeah, we saw people doing drugs –"

Seth interrupted, "But we didn't do any. I swear."

Ryan continued after the interruption, "That's all we know. Drinking. Drugs. Music. Dancing. Making out." Ryan shrugged. "Usual party stuff. That's all."

Sandy leaned back in his chair. "So you can't tell the cops who started the fire or the other stuff? Because they're going to ask."

Seth shook his head. "No. We didn't see it. And I didn't know anybody there anyway, and Ryan barely knew anybody. We couldn't say who was doing anything."

Ryan was nodding his head, confirming what Seth was saying.

Sandy took a deep breath. "Okay, guys. Tell me everything."

Once they were done giving him a detailed account of their night and everything that they saw and did (which was basically nothing), Sandy was relieved, and told them. "Good, good. That's good. Just tell the detective that, and you should be fine."

Seth and Ryan nodded, looking relieved themselves.

Then Sandy leaned forward and looked his sons straight in the eye. "But maybe next year, you should think about stay home."

* * *

Happy New Year! And let's hope for a Happy New Year for the striking WGA writers, their families, and everyone affected by the strike. Here's to a speedy resolution! 


End file.
